


Tell them that I miss our little talks

by entwinedloop



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Good Girls s1 universe, Love/Hate, Mutual Pining, WILDLY canon divergent, come on last one's a trademark, the pining, won't anyone think of the children?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:02:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21993409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entwinedloop/pseuds/entwinedloop
Summary: Beth traces Rio down to confront him at his place. She finds he’s not alone and gets cold feet, opting to leave instead. Some people can’t leave well enough alone.
Relationships: Beth Boland/Rio
Comments: 8
Kudos: 65





	Tell them that I miss our little talks

**Author's Note:**

> Wildly canon divergent, around ending of season one if it was stretched over several more months and before Rio sends Beth and the women to drive the trucks.

She wasn’t the same woman Rio had first met.

So she figured out where he lived. It wasn’t that difficult. Well, not so much due to overhearing a few passing comments. Ones like Mr. Cisco and Dags mentioning a bowling alley that they’d been to. Dags mentioning the nearby bar they’d gone to after. Thanks was owed to Annie, really, for warming them up, her chit chatting getting them on the topic. Sadie was going to have a birthday party at one and it got a side conversation going about winning strategies.

Months of meetings and curt conversations had slowly turned to occasional small talk. Mr. Cisco would smile at Annie’s antiques which made Beth feel oddly like a babysitter. When the bowling had been mentioned Beth was talking with Ruby but she’d heard it. The clues were dropped like small gems in a forest. All Beth did was make sure she was paying attention.

“Why do you think he’s not showing up?” Annie had clutched the ends of her sweater as she pulled on the car handle.

"Maybe he’s fighting some gang war,” Ruby said absentmindedly, getting in the car.

It was clear who Annie was asking about. It was the same reason she even cared to try and find out where Rio lived. The man who wasn’t showing up was him. Sometimes one of the guys changed, replacing Dags, though Mr Cisco consistently turned up. But Rio had just vanished.

Beth sat down in her seat as Ruby shut the door beside her and Annie slid in from the back.

"You don’t think?” Beth tilted her head at Ruby and put the key in the ignition. It wasn’t impossible he’d get into something. She’d seen the aftermath of confrontations he’s had before. An uncomfortable shudder squeezed her stomach.

"I don’t know, I just don’t get why he’d not show up,” Annie looked out the window.

Beth tapped on the wheel before turning it, reversing the car out of its parking spot. Did Annie….? No, there was no subtext in her voice. If there was she was going to ignore it. No one knew anything.

"Maybe he trusts us to get the work done,” Beth said.

"No way. He probably just sits on some roof, watching us through binoculars.”

"Why would he do that?” Ruby asked incredulously.

"Making sure Mr. Cisco doesn’t sneak some bills in his pockets.”

"Yeah, if he can’t trust his own people I don’t think he’d keep them.”

"You heard what Mr. Cisco said about--”

Beth listened with half an ear as she made a turn into Ruby’s street and the latter admonished Annie about Mr. Cisco’s situation not being the same thing.

It bothered her too. Not only did Rio not show it was phone silence as well, Mr. Cisco communicating in his place. When she’d texted him she’d get no response. Two weeks had passed since she’d seen or heard from Rio. That had happened before. But now it was different.

Not that she needed to know. Not exactly. Money was being washed and her and the women were getting their cut. Wholesale stores were out but Rio had flipped his game months ago and Beth maneuvered her and the women’s way inside. To benefit them and Rio of course, or he wouldn’t agree to it. Any questions were answered by Mr. Cisco in person or over the phone. More patient than his boss so that part of it wasn’t too bad. Her suggestions were taken some of the time though Mr. Cisco rarely gave an answer in the moment, even if the suggestion was minor to her view.

It was just that if Beth needed to reach Rio, it was best to know how to do it. So from one clue to another, she slowly put together a map for herself, trying to narrow down the spots where he frequented. Just in case.

* * *

"Hey, so where’s your boss?”

"Annie,” Ruby snapped, beating Beth to it. Don’t annoy Rio’s men, particularly when one was still counting the cash.

Perhaps it was due to Mr. Cisco having warmed up to her that Annie found the courage.

"What? It’s been what, a month?” Annie glanced from Ruby to Rio’s associates. “Why is he not showing up?”

Mr. Crisco seemed ready for this question. It had taken them this long to ask. “He’s busy.”

"He wasn’t too busy to come before,” she didn’t let up.

Beth tilted her head at her sister, half wishing her quiet or at least to pull a less mouthy approach. Despite what Annie would quickly name ‘her judgy face,’ however, her ears were perked up for any clue.

No answer came from the men.

Annie didn’t return Beth’s stare, instead looking Mr. Cisco and Dags over carefully. "You look a little beat up, everything OK?”

A comment about this was never brought up, even when Dags had shown up with a bandaged wrist.

The glance Mr. Crisco and Dags exchanged was tense. A cold air brushed Beth’s insides. Something had happened.

"Can I talk to you?” Beth asked Mr Crisco once the cash was counted and the bag handed over to Annie, whose face had broken into a warm smile.

"Beth,” Ruby said with alarm, reading between the lines of Beth’s request.

They didn’t do that. They always met with Rio’s men together. Power in numbers was the unspoken agreement.

Only Beth had met with Rio on her own. Just a few times. Before. That she kept to herself. It was better that way.

"I’m OK,” Beth said firmly back.

Instead of quickly making their departure Ruby stood her ground, a mixture of disbelief and surprise etched on her face. At her side Annie didn’t make a move to leave either, putting the large duffel bag over her shoulder.

“What are you doing?” Ruby’s expression said.

"I’ll be there in a minute,” Beth said a little more gently.

Finally, Annie took Ruby’s arm and the two walked away, Ruby squaring her eyes on Mr. Cisco. Beth waited for the sounds of their footsteps to fade.

"What’s going on?” Beth asked. “Why is he not showing up?”

"That’s something that doesn’t concern you,” he said coldly, any warmth gone from his tone. For a moment Beth regretted asking Annie to leave. The topic of Rio was off the table no matter what, she suspected.

"It does if it affects the money that we’re making. Last two times our batch was smaller.”

"Demand went down.”

“How could that be when it’s the holidays--”

Mr. Cisco tilted his head. “Not our call.”

It was his, wasn’t it though?

“You got it tonight,” Mr. Cisco nodded once towards the direction the women had left. “You get the job done, you get it next time around,” Mr Cisco said, steady on his feet, like he was ready to disappear into the night.

The cut above his eyebrow was red. Maybe he’d need stitches.

Between his words she tried to hear any clue of what had gone on. It didn’t matter. Just the urgency wasn’t fitting with her shrugging it off.

They’d gotten a bigger cut at some point so it wasn’t that getting less was going to hurt too much in the long run. But who was to say it wasn’t going to go down again without notice? Or if Sarah’s medical fees weren’t going to go up?

Dags wasn’t going to help her either, his hands clasped in front of him.

Beth squared her shoulders. "Is he – is he OK?”

For a quiet moment Mr. Cisco observed her, as if trying to decide what he could and couldn’t say. Perhaps deciding if she was worth it.

"Yes,” he finally nodded, offering no other piece of information and leaving quickly after that. He’d probably told her too much, she thought, as she walked down the path to Annie’s car. There was something about his hesitation that she didn’t like.

Beth had assured Ruby and Annie that money would keep coming in.

"Why did you have to meet him alone for that?” Ruby motioned towards the playground hidden behind the trees. “We do this together.”

Annie turned her head to Beth. "Me and Mr. Cisco are practically BFFs,”

"I didn’t think he appreciated being hounded by you,” Beth said.

Noises of disagreement charged out of Annie’s mouth. Ruby waved her hand.

"You asked about him, didn’t you?” She asked Beth.

"Asked about who?”

"You know who,” Ruby pursed her lips and stared forward.

"Gangfriend?” Annie piped up.

"I asked about our jobs.”

"Is there something going on with you and gangfriend?”

"If there was, I wouldn’t be talking with Mr. Cisco, would I?” Beth answered her sister sweetly. “What?”

Annie was studying her, her expression contemplative like – like she wasn’t sure her sister would be cool enough to do something like that.

"Did you ask about the cut?” Annie asked.

"He said demand is low.”

"How could that be with the holidays--”

"That’s what I said,” Beth answered Ruby, slapping her lap.

* * *

The best clue she got was the following week. They’d gotten an increase on the order, dropped a few days before then. The place was mentioned, a neighborhood bar, dropped casually by Mr. Cisco. Blink and you missed it. Annie was raving about a new brewery that had opened up. Beth waited patiently to get home and loo the spot up. No trace of it was available online but she remembered a group of moms that went around different bars in Detroit, leaving entertaining reviews posted on their group. Beth had been invited but never had time to go. Luckily they’d heard of the one Mr. Cisco mentioned. From there it was easier than she thought.

Not even a day later, thick clouds hovering above her, Beth parked some houses down from Rio’s address. A parking lot spread out behind the fence on one side. Family homes adorned each side of the road, one of them covered in tarp, the blue material flowing out. Beth breathed in and out, gathering her nerves. Of course she knew what she was going to say. It was time and she wasn’t going to back away.

The car door slammed and she already saw herself standing in front of Rio, already felt her spirit shoot off and out through her arms. He’d gotten himself injured but that wasn’t even the reason that he wasn’t showing up. Undoubtedly he wanted to be sure none of them knew what happened to him. It couldn’t have been weeks he was out of commission though. No, something else had been going on already that he wasn’t coming. It wasn’t like she cared exactly, but she wanted, she needed him to know that he wasn’t going to cast her aside.

A few people walked down the street, a couple of kids playing with chalk on the other side of the street. A few of the houses had bar covered windows while others did not. A breeze picked up with the swirl of leaves dragging along the pavement. Catching a house number Beth leaned back and slowed down her steps. Lost in her thoughts she had nearly strode right by it. His home. Her steps picked up then slowed again as the house came closer into view. White brick walls with a light blue roof, vegetation growing under the windows. He’d dug in flowers. Hard to imagine, just as picturing him bowling didn’t add up together. Bowling was just so… Normal.

If he wasn’t home, what would she do? Sit on his porch and wait? Or maybe she’d… She saw herself going through the back door, testing it. Her heartbeat picked up. What – it was nothing he’d never done to her.

Finishing her view of the outskirts of the house, she took the details in at the same time a couple of figures at the front yard came into sharp view, standing over the grass.

A blue child's bike lied on its side a few feet from them, joined by a soccer ball and a couple of toys, but what grabbed Beth’s attention was the man, standing with his back to her, in a hoodie. The shape of his body was what she could make out but still it only took a second for her to recognize him. To recognize him and not quite recognize at all the curvy, pretty woman smiling at him. She could hear them laughing, his laughter hitting her in the chest. The woman’s melodic voice meeting his deeper softer one. Could see him grabbing at her elbow, read the warmth that came off both of them.

What – what was she going to do? She’d made it this far. Her purpose weighted down her feet. She should just say what she had to, what she spent all that time tracking him down. But the scene that she was seconds from walking on – it wasn’t the right time. It didn’t – she was clearly interrupting something, disrupting a moment and well, she could always come back. The woman hadn’t noticed her, her attention fixed on Rio.

It must’ve been seconds that all the thoughts swirled through her mind but right before she was ready to turn around the woman looked behind Rio and met her gaze, probably wandering why some woman stood in front of Rio’s house, like she was invited. Oh no, Beth had time to think before Rio turned his head, raising his eyebrows at her, but not turning the rest of his body towards her.

"You lost?” He asked, no outwardly hint of surprised to find her on his lawn of all people. What did his house look like she thought, ludicrously. Of all that she could think when he asked her the question, this was her response.

"I-- I wanted to--” She started.

Rio turned his head back to the woman in front of him before returning his eyes to her.

"That’s OK,” Beth waved her hand, as if she was a neighbor who stopped by for some sugar. “It can wait. I’m sorry I bothered you,” she said in as strong voice as she could to both Rio and the woman before spinning around and clicking her heels down the sidewalk.

What would she have done, confronted him right then, when he was clearly in the middle of something? Have to think about who that woman was when she just – needed to make sure that everything was all right on the business end of things?

Charging out like that meant paying a price but she didn’t care. Even if by leaving she appeared fickle or indecisive – or worse, but that she was not going to touch. If at that very moment she didn’t want to deal with him it was up to her. Clearly he was in once piece too, not a visible scratch on him. By no means was that the main reason she had stopped by, but the urgency had subsided.

Her steps clicked on the sidewalk. It was stupid – no it wasn’t stupid to come here, she wasn’t going to regret getting in her car and making the drive, but she just didn’t expect-- it just wasn’t the right--

Truth was that the legitimate anger she’d bottled up that had guided her had fizzled out, distracted by what she’d witnessed. It wasn’t going to be how she was going to talk to him. Not that moment.

No, she’d just text him. Everything would be fine. The last delivery they got was bigger so maybe things were getting better. She just wanted to see with her own two eyes that he was all right. And he definitely seemed all right. Enough to stand on his two feet, and he didn’t appear to be in any kind of visible pain or discomfort. Apart from seeing her, that is.

"Hey!”

Her shoulders squeezed a little and she huffed. Unmistakably a man’s voice and none other than his. His neighbors one block in each direction had probably heard that. She didn’t slow down. It didn’t sound like he was right behind her. He’d give up and she was almost at her car.

"Elizabeth.”

She took a few steps forward in resignation, her skin prickling with the knowledge that he’d keep calling her until she answered. Shutting her eyes she lifted her chin before turning, taking a step back when she found him inches away from her.

"What the hell are you doing here?”

Words caught themselves in her mouth, the vision of how she first saw him still fresh. As if wanting to shield it from him like he’d guess her thoughts, she broke her gaze away.

"Don’t tell me you were in the area,” he shook his head, squinting, and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Nice of you to ask. Maybe I should’ve let myself in, sat on your kitchen island and waited for you to get home,” she mocked him. Is that what he had? What would she find in his kitchen?

He shook his head. “I don’t got time for this.”

Fine. Neither did she. She shot her arm out and turned her palm up, wishing she could push away the tension between them with a jolt of her wrist. "I wanted to talk with you.”

Rio gave her an innocent face and motioned behind him. “Didn’t find me back there?”

She shook her head. “You know, it can wait--” She backpedaled, trying to keep her tone casual. Still, she relished the high, that she'd beat him. She tracked him down. When she'd tried to ask about him about it before, he'd offered no clues. A year ago, she'd never imagined she'd it. That she'd be able to. Maybe she was always the woman Rio knew. Just uncovered.

“It can wait.” Rio snickered, lowered his chin at her. “That what you came all the way down here for?”

"Yeah.”

"Yeah?”

Dark gray clouds had crowded behind him, and was it the shadow they cast that made her hear a hint of a gentle tone in his voice? It pulled on a string in her chest. The sky was darker and the change was stark from when she’d spotted him and his – companion? Girlfriend? Whoever she was?

Hell, maybe wife? She’d never seen a ring on his hand, but maybe he didn’t wear it when he was working.

Autumn leaves raked the sidewalk loudly. Rain was coming. She could almost taste it in her mouth.

"It can wait,” she said again, forcing herself to sound casual, like she hadn’t driven over half an hour to get there, hadn’t stealthily snooped to figure out where he lived. “It loos like it’s not a good time.”

"Aw, then why you spy on my guys’ conversations to find out where I lay my head?”

Hardly was spying to listen to them talking right in front of her.

Maybe she should just say it. She felt a raindrop on her nose and her eyes shot up to the sy. “I wanted to check that you were OK,” she admitted dryly, unhappily, still struggling to keep her tone light, and glanced up again as if to bring Rio’s attention to the fact that rain was imminent. Honestly she didn’t even mean to make it sound like that, like she cared, and she worried he could still tell.

"What you here for?”

She wanted to pull at her hair. Did he not just hear what she said?

"Why don’t you head back?” She turned her palm up to feel a couple of drops. “It’s starting to rain.”

The pavement was dotting slowly with errant drops. Rio didn’t move, only kept his eyes on her. Beth pointed with her hand to the sky and Rio moved closer, brought his hands to her shoulder, her neck, and he pulled her hoodie up and over her head gently. The nerves in her shoulders tightened as she stood still, blinking at his barely softening expression.

"I told you,” she said as he put his hands down. “I wanted to see that you were OK. You missed some drops. That’s it.” She spoke in clipped tones, annoyed at her brain for trying to make sense of what he did.

"How’d you know I wasn’t?”

Oh, no. No way that Mr. Cisco hadn’t told him she’d asked about him. Or maybe this was a test, to see if she’d sell his man out.

"Since when do you miss out on drops?” She turned the question back at him.

"I got stuff to do,” he said, and his cockiness was something that Beth could do well without. She glanced upwards and back at his face, seeing the rain fall in front of them, still soft, but soon it’d pick up.

"Clearly you’re fine, so you can head back,” she put her hands up again but she didn’t touch him. “The other stuff can wait.”

His lips curled upwards, just a little, and dozens of questions floated up, bubbled over at that expression, the answers of which she wished she could just extract and hold in her hand, turn them over in her palm lie butterfly wings. But he didn’t give her a chance, turning and taking a few steps away from her.

"Who is she?”

He took a couple more steps giving her a momentary blind hope that maybe she hadn’t asked that question out loud but then he paused.

She hadn’t asked that. She hadn’t just done that. What was she doing? What kind of a stupid question was that?

"Nah, you don’t get to ask me that,” he said but turned, stepping towards her.

And maybe that was good. Maybe she wasn’t done with him yet.

“That sure as hell is none of your business.”

She tore her eyes from him.

"Go home. You don’t belong here.” He barely gave her another glare and was about to turn around again. Drops were coming down, her jeans turning a darker shade of blue, but you couldn’t tell it on him, wearing his usual black. But they clung to his hoodie, a few rolling down. She barely registered them, barely saw them. They were happening outside, outside her window, and he was about to walk out.

This time Beth stepped closer.

"How about you answer when I text you?”

"I call you when something needs to get done, you don’t come looking for me.” His tone was biting tone, as if she was wasting his time.

"No, you just show up when you want to.”

"When have I done that lately?”

That stabbed somewhere low in her stomach because he hadn’t of course. Not lately, not since a few months ago. Those small moments times he’d stop by, sitting beside her at the kitchen island, or settling down on the couch. She wished she could forget that ever happened. That she could match his bored tone.

"That why you upset?” He asked, looking over her face.

Actually, maybe it was the faux caring that would take her over the edge.

"I’ll just talk to your staff.”

"My staff?” He squinted, saying the words like they were foreign in his mouth.

"Yes, if you don’t care to show up I’ll talk to them.”

"You already talk plenty.”

Without coming to one over a month he seemed to keep well up to date. Unless his men got him up to speed on what happened, which well, she wouldn’t put past his need to control each situation.

"What you think, I got nothing else to think about except playing babysitter to the three of you?”

The drops may have been painted red with the fury itching at her fingers. “You’re not even there. We take care of it all on our own.”

"Good job you got done last week yeah,” He nodded his head sharply.

Beth’s tongue darted out, waiting to bite out a reply when her mind went spinning at the sarcasm dripping from his comment, trying to remember what had happened. “Last week? You weren’t even there.”

"I don’t got to be there.”

And he didn’t need to, everything was fine, she was talking with Kiara, and even if sirens were getting a little louder she just needed a minute. Twenty seconds. deefinitely didn’t need Mr. Cisco appearing and dragging them out of there. Without the interruption she would’ve gotten it all done if she wasn’t disrupted.

The unspoken words hung in the air. OK, so a few times she’d gone to him for help. Like anyone navigating something he’d be doing since what, he was 16? He’d told her that one of the times they’d--

"Goes just one way right,” she said.

His expression was so filled with disdain that she couldn’t imagine he was talking about helping her.

She pointed at herself. “I can’t worry about you.” She shook her head a storm forming in her chest. “Just because I have to wait for you to call me,” she threw the words back at him, getting rid of them like they were poison. Waiting, waiting, waiting. She was sick of waiting. “I can’t say that it matters if you do something stupid and get yourself hurt--” she angled her palm in his direction, hoping to match his tone in its scathing, but know that concern seeped through despite her best efforts.

He pushed her back and she almost lost her step. Stepping quickly backwards, matching his steps, her back hit the metal fence around the moment that she felt him, felt him kissing her. The taste of him. And she’d waited so long it was like she forgot for a moment how to kiss back. Her fingers curled around the gaps in the fence as she fell back into it and kissed him back hungrily.

It had been months since the last time. Last and first time in her quiet house, the kids long tucked away. By that point he’d been coming by once a week. Never stayed long, and they didn’t talk long, but she’d started to look forward to it. Between the jabs, the annoyance, business talk, the tension, she’d hear something about him. Not each time but here and there. Maybe hear about book he was reading, a business tip, learn about where his family used to vacation at. Just one detail. Squirreled away to set beside her after he’d left. Once she’d played a song he’d told her about on repeat as she sat on her couch and ran a few chores, then chastised herself for what she was doing.

Not keen on sharing, sure that he could glean from her space much more about her than she could dream about him, she tried to venture only what he could already see. Whether the magazine she was leafing through or the DVD left behind on the coffee table. She'd thought he forgot until he'd bring up something she'd said, sometimes needing a moment to recall it herself.

It was that night though when it had happened, when she’d reached to him. When she was looking for comfort. And he’d given it to her, though his eyebrows shot up in surprise, before his hands were on her, and she still kept her hands on her side. His hands on her waist, on her back, her lips the only part of her that she gave him. And then she’d backed away and put her hand up when he’d stepped forward. They’d pretended nothing happened for a few weeks, but the next time he got her alone she’d told him she wanted to have nothing to do with it again. Since then she had no visit of him. And two weeks after the incident, he’d stopped showing up to drops.

The rain was coming down, smashing against the pavement, and she couldn’t ignore it. Thankfully branches thick with leaves sheltered them, big raindrops coming down around them and only occasionally over their head.

"I’m sorry,” Beth murmured the moment she got, starting to pull off the fence.

Rio’s hand came up, pushed her back. "Sad way to get your kicks.”

"I’m not,” Beth looked down, dug her heel, quickly stopping. “That’s not what I’m doing. I didn’t come here for this,” she raised her voice.

"Yeah,” Rio rubbed his face, clearing the drops from his face, his quiet tone disarming her.

Her jeans clung to her skin, making her want to scratch at her legs.

"If you want to change the terms of our employment, you need to let us know. We need to plan--”

Rio barked a laugh.

"It’s not funny,” Beth squinted pushing her hand against his chest to maneuver herself out of his way.

"Nah, it’s hilarious you think you get special treatment cause you’re you.”

He’d just told her he did, but it didn’t matter.

"If I don’t have money, I can’t – I don’t --”

She leaned her hand against her forehead. Just putting the thought into the monthly expenses was enough to push her over. Those thoughts made risky options much more tempting. The mortgage. The kids. School. It was like credits rolling back when the payments she relied on weren’t coming in.

"We need to plan around it. As best as we can.”

Bills weren’t foreign to him, right? He lived in that house didn’t he, he had to know what it was like?

The rain had stopped and the wind was swinging the leaves to topple over, pouring down like cool water from a teapot.

He wasn’t going to answer and exhaustion was already making itself comfortable replacing the adrenaline she’d charged on her way here.

"We can always do something else,” she said, raising her hand as Rio opened his mouth. “Not as a favor. But because this worked.”

Her socks squished in her shoes as she stepped back to her car. She’d made her case and he’d do whatever he chose with it. He didn’t have it on her anymore. She knew where he lived.

"Whose bike is that?” She turned around, unable to hold her curiosity. She snuck her hands in her pockets. “Your nephew’s?”

That wide smile again. "Why’d you run off when you saw me?”

He took a step forward and she took one back.

"Why’d you stop showing to drops?”

"Why’d you meet with Jia last Tuesday?”

How did he even know about that – she thought she was being so careful. Only a threadbare connection tied Jia back to him.

"Oh.” Rio mocked her, perhaps reading the surprise on her face.

"That’s why she won’t answer my calls?” Beth asked.

"Seems to be a problem with you, doesn’t it?”

"That’s not an answer, Christopher.”

His expression didn’t change one bit as he continued to step towards her. Had it not been his name? It’s what helped her track him down.

He backed her up the last few steps against her minivan.

"What you bring your mamma van for?”

"It’s my car.” She shook her quickly head back and forth.

He hmmd, his eyes slowly grazing her down and up. She didn’t need to glimpse down to see her jacket clinging to her chest. It wasn’t so cool yet, still being a warmish early autumn day, but it didn’t make standing with tight wet clothes any more comfortable. Rio was no drier than her but he didn’t seem bothered and she wasn’t going to stare.

"Is she your ex-wife?”

His smile widened.

"You don’t wear a ring.”

In response he took her left arm and raised it so its back was to him. She tugged her hand back.

"I’ll talk to your guys.”

"Huh?”

"Don’t show up, I talk to them anyway. I’m fine,” she put her hands behind her back, leaning on them.

"Need a change of clothes?”

"What?”

Rio’s hand went to her waist.

“That’s not an answer Elizabeth.” He leaned closer, "Unless you carry a spare of clothes in the back.” He looked behind her at the car, his fingers spread out on her hip, goading her.

"I’m fine.”

He stayed there, running his thumb over her shirt, each caress causing her chest to squeeze

"Got what you wanted?” He asked innocently.

She nodded.

Her lips found his not because he was there. It wasn’t why her tongue ran over his lower lip as she tugged at it and reveled in his hiss. He stepped closer and clasped her left hip with his other hand, their breathes quickening and mixing with each other. She stood on her tip toes, wanting to be closer, pushing herself off the van and into him, savoring the groan he made in response. She slid her hands in her back pockets as his hand cupped her cheek as the kiss deepened. It wasn’t like the first time. Not the hesitancy that surrounded it, the exploration of a brand new experience with a new person. The tentativeness was still there and the heat – that hadn’t dulled at all.

His lips dragged down her neck until they slowed, bit down gently, sucking at her skin. Beth moaned at first, distracted by the sensations to focus on what he was doing. Finally her hands went to his shoulders and she pushed at him, groaning when he sucked harder and moaned his disagreement, making her suck her breathe.

"Stop,” she breathed out and he drew back and she kissed him and he pushed her back against the van. When was the last time she’d kissed someone so leisurely and desperately? Her hands pulled off his shoulders as he kissed her back, her fingers tensing against the door of her van and if she could push into him a little more she’d understand all of this, she’d get him, she’d get what she needed.

They both exhaled as they pulled apart, his eyes closed a moment longer than hers. His hands held her lower back for a brief moment still before they dropped at his sides. Her gaze found his lips again and his hers. A breeze blew through and Beth shuddered while Rio licked the back of his lips, his mouth half open.

"See you when I see you,” In seconds he was feet away from her, his hands in his pockets, as he headed back where he came from.

Beth licked her lower lip and looked, balling her fists, as he walked leisurely down the street. Infuriating. Looked so pleased with himself. Got what she wanted. Please. Finally she turned her head away. She wasn’t going to be caught staring at him like some poor teenager with a bad crush. Like the scene that unraveled in the last few minutes wasn’t her acting that out for anyone looking out their windows.

Who was that woman who'd stood so comfortably in front of him? Why didn’t he answer her? She couldn’t have been his wife. They couldn’t have been living together. Not if he had invited her over. He wouldn’t risk kissing another woman right under her nose if they were together. Asking her to come over like there was any way she was going to accept that offer when he was offering so little information about herself.

The business was for now not an immediate matter. Not since getting it upped from the last delivery. It didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to make her case in the opportunity she had. Now if she needed to she knew where to find him. Thinking of himself as some guardian angel. It didn’t hurt to have him around, fine. The long plan wasn’t to work for him for good anyway. Once she’d get on her feet she have her own business.

The air smelled wet and earthy. Her feet took her to the driver’s seat and she unlocked the door. He was gone from view and the clouds had started dispersing, brightening the street. A box of clothes laid in the back, ready for a garage sale she was going to have with Ruby, but she much preferred to make her way home and take a shower.

She should just extricate herself from all of this… Quicksand. Stop kicking her feet and throwing her arms and stay still, stretch out so she could free her legs. Walk away if she had any kind of sense. If she could have left it alone and been grateful he hadn’t been showing up to drops. Avoid getting injured so she wouldn’t have to think about him.

Beth drove by his house, the toys cleared from the grass. The indignation making her tighten her hold on the wheel.

If he thought this was over – he was a fool.

The only one, surely.

**Author's Note:**

> Cause something about Beth and Rio standing in hoodies arguing with each other, then chatting, melting into each other a little, then arguing some more, and at the end of it begrudgingly (and infuriatingly) being unable to let each other go, does things to me.
> 
> Oh, and the kissing in the rain trope, need to have it. Must.


End file.
